"Empire State of Mind" Lands at #100 as Complex's NYC Rap 100 Kicks Off With a Twist
Complex has released its ranking of the 100 greatest New York rap songs of all time, and the most intriguing part isn't who took the top spot—it's that Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' globally beloved "Empire State of Mind" landed at #100, dead last, revealing exactly what criteria this list is really built on.
If you expected a "New York Rap 100" list to open with a tribute, think again. Complex placed Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' 2009 track "Empire State of Mind"—a song practically synonymous with New York itself—at #100, dead last on the entire list.
This wasn't arbitrary. Critic Abe Beame goes straight for a Frank Sinatra comparison in the entry: by 1979, Sinatra had already written countless classics, yet half a century later, what everyone remembers is his cover of a cheesy little number called "New York, New York," originally written for a forgotten Scorsese musical. His point is clear: "Empire State of Mind" is Jay-Z's "New York, New York"—a saccharine city anthem built for mass singalongs at the Knicks Thanksgiving parade or after every Knicks win. It did its job, but the same artist has actually written better New York songs, like "Where I'm From." That track appears on *The Blueprint 3*, produced by Al Shux, Janet Sewell-Ulepic, and Angela Hunte, under Roc Nation/Atlantic.
Burying this global radio anthem at the bottom essentially lays out the ranking criteria upfront: this list doesn't care about fame or crossover appeal—it cares about authentic texture tied to the streets and neighborhoods.
From "Munch" to "Fisherrr": Two Faces of Authenticity in the Drill Generation
Scroll up a few spots and you can see this standard in action. Ranked #99, Ice Spice's "Munch (Feelin' U)" (2023), produced by RIOTUSA and featured on *Like..?* under 10K Projects/Capitol, is framed as an extension of New York drill—not the genre's usual menacing street confrontation, but a party anthem women could also claim as their own, while doubling as a diss track. The slang term "munch" never really caught on beyond the song, but the track itself catapulted then-newcomer Ice Spice onto magazine covers within months, landed her a collab with Taylor Swift, and secured her spot on this "50 Greatest New York Rappers of All Time" list.
Moving up to #92, Cash Cobain and Bay Swag's "Fisherrr" (2024), produced by Cash Cobain himself alongside FckBwoy! and WhoJiggi, and featured on *PLAY CASH COBAIN* under Giant, went viral in the winter of 2024 and instantly transformed Cash Cobain from a talented producer into a star. The entry describes it with four words: dreamy, sweet, smutty, horny—swapping out the ferocious confrontation typically expected from New York drill for a looser, more ambiguous vibe: something you can throw down to on the street or grind to in the club, with the beat itself carrying the possibility of an entire night rather than a single emotion.
Further up at #88, Big L's "Ebonics" (2000), produced by Ron Browz and featured on the posthumous album *The Big Picture* under Rawkus, is the heaviest entry on this list. Track by track, he breaks down late-'90s street slang and samples a Nas verse—a rapper from a Bronx gang who ran with Harlem, paying respect to Queensbridge's Nas. On February 5, 1999, he was about to sign with Roc-A-Fella; a week later, he was shot dead at age 24.
The material excerpted here only covers entries from around #100 to #87 on the list. The full ranking and earlier entries have not yet been included.
